


Voice from the Past

by rivendellrose



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Day of the Dead, Gen, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 18:39:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9136663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivendellrose/pseuds/rivendellrose
Summary: Originally posted on Livejournal in October of 2006, and titled "Day of the Dead Alternate Scene #1," because I'm super clever about titles. Exactly what it sounds like, hence somewhat AU.During the Day of the Dead celebration in S5, Delenn tries to have a little talk with Lennier... and ends up chatting with someone else entirely.Followed up with Day of the Dead Alternate Scene #2, also known asLove, Death, and the Winter.





	

“How is it with you, now, Delenn? Tell me everything.”

It seems strange to think that he’s unchanged - she’s changed so much in the time since she last saw her beloved mentor that she’s shocked to find herself no longer the timid acolyte who’d been terrified to take her place at his side, so long ago. And yet here he is, the same larger-than-life figure, the imposing giant she remembers from days past.

“It is... I don’t know where to begin.” She laughed, and he smiled with her. 

“Then begin with this.” He tugged at a bit of her long, brown hair, just hard enough that she flinched at the pressure it put on delicate skin that had grown over her crest. He frowned at her reaction. “Ah... forgive me. I didn’t realize.”

“I am half human, now. The triluminary...”

“Reacted to you because you are a child of Valen, as I’m sure you’ve discovered by now. I tried to tell you, but I’m afraid death made a most persuasive argument to the contrary.”

“I understand. But it also helped me to fulfill the prophecy about the two sides of our soul. The humans are our other half, Dukhat. And I am now the bridge between them.”

He smiled. “So I was right about you. Good. And so you are here... wherever this place is...” he paused to give the room a quick and disdainful glance, then continued, “to cement our alliance with them?”

“Essentially.” Delenn hesitated, wishing they were back in her quarters. It would be a relief to have the distractions of her own space - to make tea for them, to light candles... anything to keep her hands busy and distract herself from the reality of everything that had happened in the many years since the last time she’d seen her teacher. “We... _I_ nearly destroyed them, Dukhat. I was blind with rage after you died.” She almost expected him to scold her, to lecture her on the faults of passion, but he only nodded for her to continue. “Our fleet was nearing their homeworld, preparing the final assault, when we decided to take on a single human fighter to... understand them.”

“Still curious, despite your anger? That was your order, I presume.”

Delenn nodded. “It was fortunate that we did. The man we brought aboard...” How to explain this? “He was... a Minbari not born of Minbar. We did not understand at the time, but he shared Valen’s soul. John and I--”

“’John?’”

“My husband. A human.”

Dukhat blinked, then shook his head and laughed. “The council must have been furious. I must say, I’m glad you haven’t changed, Delenn - still causing them all sorts of headaches by refusing to do what they expect.” He touched her cheek affectionately, and for a moment she indulged herself, leaning her face into the familiar, callused warmth of his hand. “I can be at peace, knowing that you lead them.”

Shame washed over her at his failed expectation, and she turned away from his touch. “The council has cast me out, Dukhat. They... disagreed with my decision to act on prophecy and use what we knew about the triluminary.”

“And so they removed you? That has not happened in--”

“They consider me no longer Minbari.”

He snorted. “Then remind them of who and what you are, Delenn! You are no foolish acolyte to bow your head and accept their mindless decisions based wholely out of fear. You are the rightful ruler of the council, not some... idiot _Shai Alyt_ who will only send us heedless into another war.”

“The worker caste rules, now,” Delenn assured him gently. “I arranged that as my last act among the Grey.” He didn’t need to know about the Starfire Wheel, the breaking of the council... all of that would only anger him further, and his time now was too precious to be wasted in impotent fury. “The workers will rule the council well, and wisely.”

Dukhat only snorted again, but dismissed the subject with a shake of his head. “You are happy, then? This mate of yours pleases you? And you keep busy, despite the council’s foolishness?”

She laughed. “He does, and I do. The alliance of worlds that we brought together keeps us well occupied, and I was chosen to be _Entil’zha_ , as well.”

“I’m sure that pleased the Warriors.”

Delenn thought of Neroon, and of Marcus laying battered and nearly broken in Medlab. “We managed to come to an agreement,” she said delicately.

“I’m sure. You’ve always had an impressive talent for convincing people to take you seriously, even when they don’t mean to. I’ll never forget the look on Satai Katenn’s face when you tricked him into agreeing with exactly the proposal he’d refused to even consider at the previous council meeting. The youngest among the Grey, barely past her time as an acolyte, and you twisted his words back on him so many times he ended up not only agreeing with you, but _insisting_ that he would personally carry out the mission before another cycle had passed. I wonder if he ever did realize what you’d done.”

Delenn smiled, remembering the haughty warrior _satai_. “If he did, he never mentioned it.”

“Of course! Honor would never allow him to admit he’d been manipulated so easily. Ah, Delenn... I knew that day that I could never have found a better successor. It’s a wonderful thing to find oneself so thoroughly outclassed by one’s own student.” 

She bowed, not bothering to hide her smile. “I try only to speak with your voice.”

“Hmph.” Dukhat sat back against the wall of the lift and eyed her for a moment, then shook his head. “False modesty doesn’t suit you. You’ve never spoken with any voice but your own. But if having my authority helps you to knock sense into those fools in the council, then I’ve done my job.” 

He patted the floor beside him, and Delenn curled up against his side, laying her head comfortably against his shoulder. After the stress and tumult of the last twelve years, it was a relief just to melt into the strength of his presence and personality, to feel small again, safe and contentedly insignificant beside him. 

“Have you taken a student?” 

“I have.”

“Tell me.”

“He is... I was coming to see him, actually, when the lift stopped. He is having some difficulty with his path at the moment.”

She could almost feel Dukhat’s smile, and he squeezed her shoulder lightly. “A student of your choosing, headstrong and difficult? I can’t imagine how you might deserve that.”

“That is not the difficulty with Lennier. Perhaps if he were more headstrong...” She hesitated, reluctant to reveal Lennier’s secrets, but Dukhat was hardly in a position to shame her aide, now. “He believes himself in love with me.”

“I see. And you do not return those feelings.”

“I...” Delenn stopped herself on the edge of telling him that she had already given her heart to John. Of course she loved John, but the pain in her heart when she looked at Lennier, now, spoke to another sort of love. And nestled against Dukhat’s side, she could hardly deny that other forms of love could be equally strong. “Not in the way he means it. I love Lennier as a student, as a friend... he is the light on my path, my hope for the future of our people.”

“And have you told him this?”

She thought back on their conversations, and felt a darkness on her mind. “I thought I had made it clear to him. I realize now that he may not have understood.”

“Then go to him, Delenn. Tell him.” Dukhat’s large hand turned her chin to look up at him. “The universe doesn’t always give us the time we think we have to share what is in our hearts. Many things I should have told you from the first day I took you as my student... I let many things remain unspoken one day too long.” He released her face and brought her hand up to his sternum. “A night like this comes once in two hundred years - you may not have another chance to speak with him in this life. If you still value my advice, go to him as soon as you can, and tell him everything that is in your heart.” 

“How can I, without shaming him?”

“Are you afraid to shame him, or to shame yourself?” 

“His feelings are strong enough that he has left my service to become a ranger, Dukhat. He wishes to be... worthy.”

“Of you, and of your love, of course. And you are surprised by this?” Dukhat shook his head. “Delenn, you are a powerful force, and transparent as crystal to the light of your soul. I would be more surprised, and more worried, if he were brash enough to think himself already worthy of you. I would count few of our people or any other that highly. And this mate of yours had better be,” he added in a growl. 

“John is a good, loyal man. I love him dearly.”

“Good, then.” He nodded solemnly. “With two who love you keeping watch, perhaps it is safe for me to leave you to your own devices. They can’t keep you from danger, but they can at least prevent you from facing it alone. Sometimes I think I miss the timid acolyte I met in the Dreaming - she, at least, did not rush to face the universe with only her bare hands as I suspect you do now.”

“If I have become too impetuous, I respectfully suggest that this example must have come from somewhere,” Delenn teased. 

“Ah, of course. All my fault. Nothing to do with all the natural cunning and fire beneath that placid surface.” 

They talked for a long time of memories past and troubles since Dukhat’s death, until after many hours he touched her shoulder gently. “What passes for dawn is nearly here, Delenn.”

“You’re leaving.” She did her best not to sound like a child abandoned.

“We’ll see each other again. It had better be in many long years, though - for all the pride of your lineage and your duty to me as a student, for Valen’s sake take care of yourself. And let your men take care of you, too, when they aren’t being too pushy about it.”

“I will. And I will find you again, in time.”

Hands pressed tightly to each other’s hearts, they counted the long breaths until the artificial sunrise, and watched, waited, memorized each other’s souls for the next time they met. And when he disappeared, Delenn collapsed back against the wall and cried for his loss as much as she had when first he’d died. There was no rage, this time, though, no thoughts of blame and revenge to heat her blood, and after long minutes that passed unnoticed she was stopped by a familiar, tentative voice.

“Delenn? Are you alright?”

She looked up, and tried to smile through her tears. “I’m fine, Lennier. I only... have just had the strangest experience. You were right about the Day of the Dead... it was not something to be missed. Did you find what you were looking for? Did you see someone you cared for?”

“I...” He hesitated, then squared his shoulders, and as her eyes cleared she saw how haunted he looked - horrified, almost, as though he had seen something truly awful in the night. And yet... “No.” 

“Ah. I’m sorry, then.”

“It was a foolish thing to wish for.” He held out his hand to help her up, but she couldn’t miss how distant he held himself, stiff and unwilling when she moved to lean on him for a moment. 

_Tell him_ , Dukhat had said. But perhaps he would do better to deal with this in his own way. What was right for her, or for Dukhat, was not necessarily right for Lennier.

“Are _you_ alright, Lennier? You seem...”

“I am fine,” he broke in quickly. “Only tired. It has been a long night. I should return to my ship... I’m eager to go back to training.”

“I see. I had thought you had time, that we might talk for a while...”

“I... should focus on my studies, Delenn.” He pulled back and bowed to her. More distance between them. But maybe he was right. 

“Of course, Lennier. I understand.”


End file.
